At Year's End (The 12 Olympians) (16 page)

“Oh shit, ohhh!”
Jaxon shouted.

Cum
raced from Jaxon’s slit as his orgasm ravaged his entire body. He shuddered as his body succumbed to the pleasure of having Elijah inside him.

Elijah slammed in and his dick erupted.

“Bite me!” he shouted.

“What?!”

“BITE ME!”

Jaxon pulled Elijah down and
sank his canines into his shoulder.

Heat slammed into him and Elijah cried out. He pulled out and slumped over
on his side as Jaxon’s bite coursed through his veins.

“Jaxon!” Elijah lifted his head.

“Elijah!” Jaxon scrambled to get up. His eyes went wide as a much larger phoenix than before emerged from Elijah. It was the same size as Elijah himself. It screeched and advanced on Jaxon. Heat swamped him from the flapping wings and Jaxon met head-on with the phoenix, standing his ground. They eyed each other and the bird blinked. It made another screeching sound and flapped its wings, disappearing.

“Jesus.” Jaxon
scrambled over to Elijah. The bite wound wasn’t healing as fast as Jaxon would have liked; he bit his wrist and dripped some blood onto the shoulder.

“Look at me! Are you okay?” Elijah stared up at him and Jaxon’s mouth fell open. “Holy shit
! Your eyes are orange.”

“Orange?” Elijah licked his lips.

“Yes.” Jaxon pulled Elijah into his arms. “Are you okay? I shouldn’t have done that!”

“Yes
, you should have. We belong to each other, Jaxon.”

“You’re shaking,” Jaxon held Elijah close to him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. Feels weird, though.” Elijah blinked a few more times, and then stared into Jaxon’s eyes. “Was that a huge phoenix this time?”

“
Yep, it sure was,” Jaxon chuckled.

“So the more power I get, the bigger they get?”

“I would assume yes.”

Elijah ran his hand over his shoulder. “The holes are gone?”

“Yes. I’ve given you my blood before, but they weren’t healing as fast as I would have liked so I helped you out.”

“That is so awesome
,” Elijah sighed and snuggled into Jaxon. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being my first everything.”

“
How about being your
only
everything? Hell, you were really good. Were you humming the song from tonight?”

“Yep.” Elijah grinned.

“Well, that was some awesome rhythm. I hardly felt any pain and based on what I’ve heard, that’s saying a lot.” Jaxon eyed Elijah’s dick. They were roughly the same length, about eight inches, but Elijah was thick. Like,
really
thick.

“I can’t wait for you to make love to me
,” Elijah mumbled sleepily.

“I can’t either, Elijah.” Jaxon rolled them over and got under the covers. He pulled Elijah close to him and pulled the blanket up. “
Goodnight, Elijah.”

“Nite, Jaxon.”

Saturday morning’s rays popped through his blinds and Jaxon’s nose twitched at the smell of coffee wafting under his door. Elijah was still sacked out from the night before. He couldn’t blame him. Jaxon moved and was saddened to feel no pain. He’d wanted to feel Elijah for days. Sometimes it just sucked being a werewolf with quick-healing abilities.

His eyes took in the sight of Elijah sleeping peacefully. He’d never
get tired of waking up with him. Jaxon placed a soft kiss on Elijah’s forehead and rolled out of bed carefully, trying not to wake the younger man.

“Younger man. Pfft
,” he whispered to himself.

The way Elijah had
made love to him last night — damn! Jaxon smiled to himself and pulled on his sweatpants and a T-shirt. He descended the stairs and all talk ceased as he wandered into the kitchen. Justice and Jesse were at the kitchen table, both of them smiling at him.

“What? You guys look like serial killers.”

“Have a good night?” Jesse chuckled.

“Someone had sex.” Justice’s nose wrinkled.

“How do you know?” Jaxon poured himself a cup of coffee and turned to see them both with their pendants raised. Scorch marks were visible on their chests.

“Did you happen to bite Elijah last night?” Justice asked.

Jaxon sat down at the table and stared at the marks on his brothers. “What the hell?” he whispered.

“You tell me.” Jesse flipped the pendant around his finger. “One minute I’m sound asleep
; the next? Holy hell it burned like a mother fucker!”

Jaxon whipped his head to Justice. “Care to explain?”

Justice shrugged. “Wish I could.”

“Well, you should have seen the damn phoenix that came out of Elijah last night.”

“I’m sorry, a what?” Jesse’s eyes widened.

“Oh yeah, when Elijah feels overwhelmed
, a phoenix pops out of him. They started out small and then last night?” Jaxon put his hands in the air to demonstrate the size of the bird. “The thing just stared at me, and then disappeared.”

“Wow
,” Justice said.

“Ya think?” Jaxon chuckled and sipped his coffee.

“So? Club tonight?”

“As always.”

~*~

After spending the entire day wrapped up in Elijah’s arms watching brooding and pyscho brothers on TV, Jaxon didn’t even want to go to the club. Elijah on the other hand? He was raring to go and try out some new songs with the guys. Jaxon relented and they went.

They entered through the alley back door and ran into Skylar immediately. Jaxon hugged him and winked. The rest of the guys were already setting up as Jaxon made his way out into the packed club. Jesse was behind the bar with Noah. Jaxon waved and leaned over so they could hear him.

“Just some water, okay?” he yelled.

As the boys took the stage, more and more people began to show up until the club was standing room only. Jaxon weaved through the crowd trying to get a closer look at the stage.

“Hi!”

Jaxon turned to see Elijah
wearing a huge grin.

“Why are you down here?” Jaxon wrapped him up in his arms and held him.

“I wanted to kiss my man.” Elijah waggled his eyebrows.

“Are you sure you want to do that? You know how these guys love you.”

Elijah smiled and kissed Jaxon’s lips softly. “Yes, but I belong to you.”

“Yes, yes you do, Elijah.” Jaxon ran his hand into Elijah’s hair and pulled him up; Elijah wrapped his hands in Jaxon’s hair as the kiss deepened. They were interrupted by boos and Jaxon smiled against Elijah’s lips.

“I told you.”

Elijah chuckled and gave him a light kiss. “See you after?”

“I’ll be here.”

The first set seemed to fly by and Elijah couldn’t be happier. Their little group had become so much more than just a cover band. They were really good, and Nate Valentine and Stone Marinos only added to it. Elijah bowed to a clapping and whistling crowd and they all left the stage in search of water. Elijah hit the restroom first; he splashed his face and looked in the mirror. Did he look different now that he’d had sex? He grinned and dried his face. Leaving the bathroom, he ran into Skylar on his way down the hall.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I forgot something in my car.” Skylar began walking again.

“Well, hang on, I’
ll go with you.”

“I don’t need an escort
,” Skylar chuckled.

“Hey, we need to stick together. Let me just tell Jaxon.”

Elijah made his way to the bar and leaned into Jaxon’s ear.

“I’ll be right back, just walking to Skylar’s car with him.”

“Need me to go?” Jaxon asked.

“I think two children of gods can handle a parking lot.” Elijah kissed Jaxon softly. “Can’t wait until later.”

“Me either.” Jaxon opened his mouth as Elijah’s tongue begged for entrance. They kissed slowly, oblivious to everything and everyone around them. Jaxon broke the kiss and palmed Elijah’s face.

“Okay, really have to go.” Elijah grinned
, walking backwards. “Be right back.”

“
Hang on — let me just get Jesse to man the bar and I’ll go with you guys.” Jaxon headed off and Elijah walked back and propped against the bar. A minute later, he shook his head and laughed.
This is ridiculous; I’m just going to the parking lot with a buddy.

Elijah met up with Skylar in the hallway by the back door and they both walked outside. The cool February air hit Elijah and he sighed in bliss. Skylar seemed to be playing with his cell phone and Elijah looked around the dark parking lot.

“Where’s your car?”

“Over there,
” Skylar pointed.

“Just what did you forget?” Elijah had a feeling of uneasiness the further they walked away from the club. A far off tone met his ears and he stopped walking. Skylar walked back over to him with a frown.

“What’s wrong?” Skylar asked.

“Something’s not right.” Elijah shuddered.

Skylar stepped forward and hugged him.

“Everything’s going to be just fine, Elijah.”

White-hot pain seared his neck and Elijah stumbled backwards onto his ass. His eyesight grew bleary and his body felt like it was floating on air.

“You’re not Skylar
,” Elijah slurred.

“Bravo, sweetness.”

Ca
rl threw Elijah over his shoulder, opened the car door and shoved him in, then made his way around to the driver’s side. He started the car and backed out, locking the doors as he did.

“I knew you’d never forget him. I just
knew
it!” Carl gripped the steering wheel harder. “All this time I’ve been working on you, hoping that you’d just come to see things our way, but you won’t, will you?”

Elijah moved further back in the seat. “What are you talking about?”

“You think Jaxon’s going to accept you? You’re a freak, Elijah. Yeah, I know all about it. You start fires with your mind.”

Elijah edged further towards the car door. “What do you mean you know?”
he whispered.

“You think Jaxon’s still going to look at you the same way knowing what you are? You’re a demon, Elijah. You belong with us.”

“No I’m not! You’re that Carl guy!”

Ca
rl looked over at him and Elijah tried to scream but nothing would come out. Yellow eyes and a row of razor-sharp teeth leered at him

“We want you real bad, Elijah, but you’ve got the hots for a Salvatore and that just won’t do. I tried everything, even a love spell but even that didn’t work. You’ve got a boner for Jaxon that just won’t go away.”

“
A love spell?”

“Don’t get excited
; we both know what happens when you get excited or scared.”

Elijah grabbed at the door handle and yanked, but to no avail. He fumbled for the lock and pain exploded in his neck
again. He slumped against the door and tried to pull the handle again.

“It won’t work
,” Carl laughed. “I’ve got you so jacked up on ketamine; you’ll be out for at least a day.”

“Fuck you
,” Elijah mumbled.

“I’m a rogue, sweetie.
I get sex whenever I want it. I’m a werewolf who doesn’t give a shit. You have no idea what you’re capable of Elijah, and neither do we, but we
are
going to find out. By the time we’re done, you won’t remember any of your friends.”

Elijah felt the pull of the drugs and the wetness of his own tears on his cheek. They were taking him away from everything
and everyone, and there was nothing he could do about it.

~*~

Jaxon returned to the bar, only to find that Elijah had left without him. Now he had been gone for at least five minutes, and Jaxon was really starting to worry.

“Hey,
Jaxon. Where’s Elijah?”

Ice trickled through his veins at the sound of Skylar’s voice. He turned slowly.

“What do you mean? He said he was going outside with you!”

Skylar’s eyes widened.

It took a fraction of a second before both of them raced for the exit. Justice fell in step with them as they flew out the back doors into the alley.

“
Split up!” Jaxon shouted.

The scent on the air was Elijah
’s — and Carl’s. Jaxon flew into a panic because Elijah’s scent indicated terror. He combed the parking lot, looking through car windows. Justice came around the side of the building with Skylar. Just looking at their faces, he knew.

Elijah was gone.

~*~

The team descended on the club in full force. Caden and Kellan paced back and forth. Jaxon sat on the ground, dazed. Someone crouched beside him and Jaxon lifted his head.

“We’ll find him, Jaxon
. I swear we will.”

Jaxon nodded at James and closed his eyes.
Hot tears ran down his cheeks and Jaxon didn’t even bother to wipe them away.

They had to find Elijah.

They had to.

Over the next few weeks, they set up a command center. Everyone who was available joined in the search for Elijah. Ross printed out more flyers as the guys began taking piles of them off the printer. They had been spreading them throughout the neighborhoods and going door to door.

A group of men came through the door and Ross caught sight of Cole Ryker. The guy was pale and looked like he hadn’t slept.
Cole walked over to him and Ross prepared himself for their usual swapping of sexual innuendos.

“Are those almost done?” Cole motioned to the copier.

“Um, almost.” Ross eyed Cole carefully. “Have you slept?”

“I caught about three hours. I’m good.”

“Have you eaten?”

“Yeah, we grabbed some sandwiches.”

“You look pale.” Ross reached a hand out to Cole’s face.

Cole took Ross’ hand and smiled. “I’m fine. I just need to be doing something. Sitting around while Elijah’s missing
isn’t an option.”

Ross nodded and grabbed a handful of flyers from the copier. He handed them to Cole and took his other hand.

“Take care of yourself.”

Cole left and Ross turned his attention to Jaxon. The man was
completely broken; he hadn’t slept or eaten in days. Ross approached him and took his hand.

“You’ve got to sleep and eat, Jaxon. You can’t help Elijah if you’re
half-dead.

“I will.” Jaxon turned and ran out the door.

Ross leaned against the wall with a sigh. With every available person looking for Elijah, surely they would find him.

“Hey, you okay?”

Ross rolled his head to the side and tried to smile at Noah.

“I will be, when we find Elijah.”

~*~

February turned into March, and March turned into April and still there was no sign of Elijah. They had tried and failed to get information on his whereabouts from countless rogues. Day by day, Jaxon’s will to live lessened. He was on every rogue hunt, chased every lead they got. He was in more countries in the last two months than he’d ever been in his whole life. The key they had found in Elijah’s adoptive parents’ house was a skeleton key. But, so far, they hadn’t found out what it matched.

The one thing
Jaxon wanted was to find Elijah and bring him home. Sleep evaded him and he wasn’t hungry. His sole purpose was to find Elijah.

Period.

But today he’d been dragged to the outreach center to celeb
rate Nate Valentine’s birthday. Sitting in the corner, Jaxon eyed everyone around him. They tried to be cheerful for Nate, but it was obvious everyone had been affected by Elijah’s kidnapping.